Why does a grown woman (higher up in the office, no less) dress up like Dracula at a dialysis center? Whoo hoo! Good one. As I suffered through another bad dialysis treatment I was planning murder. Vampire is what I call the whole thing, anyway. I wanted to bite someone.
She looked stupid on many levels, one was her theatre arts skills werenāt very good. The stage makeup was bad, bad, bad.
And, I had to walk through the aforementioned candy table, encountering employees eating candy. Smelling candy. Seeing bubble gum smacking, just to get in the place.
Get out of that haunted house to go to Walmart. Itās a grandwrex birthday. He needed Lego. He said. Mom said he needed tshirts. Had to fight through miles of candy and costume areas to get to these areas. Ugh.
On to the grocery area. Everything imaginable is pumpkin flavored, spiced or orange and black.
To produce. Ok. The pumpkins are fine. Just As they Come donāt really need embellishments. Thereās whole shelves of caramel, marshmallow, chocolate dipping stuff. Piles of apples. Do they need a produce bin full of bags of candy corn? Right near the sweet potatoes I was after. Come on! Who plans these things?
Walk through 13 tables of baked goods, all Halloween themed to finally get to the check out.
Lord. Iām nearly out of there.
Get home. Oh goody! Birthday cake. From a bakery. In a box. On my counter. Yay! (Probably some ice cream too)
Another treat I cannot have.
I so know this. My family totally ignored my dietary needs when I was put on a very limited diet to discover my allergies and intolerances. What, no gluten? You have to come over for the big family dinner though. SIL is making her famous lasagna. Could you make a cake or pie for dessert?
I put up with this crap for about 3 years. But then my brotherās daughter went vegan and I was asked to make a vegan dessert because she wouldnāt eat the cream, eggs, etc. I blew my top at them, in front of all off them about it much to their self-centered surprise and said why the hell should I accommodate my nieceās dietary needs when they all refused to acknowledge mine? The only one who really understood where I was coming from was the niece. And it turns out that she has the same gluten issues that I do. So we share recipes and cut the rest of the family out.
Becks, if I were you, Iād give the dialysis place mgmt a piece of my mind about how freaking inconsiderate they are of their customers. Thereās no reason that employee candy dish canāt be placed in their break room out of the sight of customers. And you should certainly point out how rude it is to do a vampire act in front of customers who have no choice but to put up with employee antics 3 times a week. Sure, make the workplace fun for employees, but also have a little thoughtfulness towards your customers.
Glad you survived all the sugar at dialysis and at WallyWorld. Sorry it also invaded the home front Iām sure you handled it with more grace than I would have.
The family does pretty good. Canāt deny the little ghoul of his birthday goodies.
(It wouldnāt hurt him a bit, size wise to miss a pastry or two, just sayinā)
Iāll live. Next to get through Thanksgiving without too much drama. And of course , Christmas.
This is gonna be a tough holiday season.
I need to go to the desert and just eat weeds and seeds.
Feelinā much more better today. Positively perky.
Iām not feeling so murderous.
Has Halloween somehow became a bigger holiday than it was when I was a kid?
I may have been sheltered from lots of it because I was never allowed to trick or treat.
Itās huge in the US. AFAIK, itās been that way for generations. If you come to Canada, itās just an occasion for kids to go around collecting free treats, not really a big deal, although you do find some enthusiastic store clerks ā usually the female ones ā getting into the spirit by dressing up as cats or witches. Thanksgiving (which we have in early October, because reasons) is not nearly as huge a deal as it is in the US, either. Only Christmas is afforded the same celebratory reverence as youse guys do. Speaking only for some of us, weāre generally so hammered on Caesars and martinis that we donāt really know what day it is anyway. And now that cannabis has been legalized, we often donāt even know what month it is.
At one time in a previous life, I traveled extensively across Canada and the US. It was a wonderful way to appreciate this great country; and I believe I may have claimed to have visited all ten provinces and three territories. If so, I lied. I made hundreds of business-related trips, even to the far north, but somehow never had reason to visit the Yukon, Nunavut, New Brunswick, or Newfoundland. These places are as alien to me as the planet Neptune. From what I can see St. Andrews is a lovely little town in New Brunswick, but as for being able to offer any guidance I am ā as I often am ā useless.
Itās ok. She wouldnāt take advice anyway. Iāve looked it up and she keeps telling me to hush. Sheās an explorer at heart and likes to find her own way in a new place.
Iām sure sheāll have fun.
Although it pains me to say this, avoid the Southwest, especially the Four Corners. The four-legged protein source in abundance is the detestable Deer Mouse. If you are eating weeds and seeds, they will be competing for them, too. These little shits carry the Hanta virus, one of those nasty bugs that by the time you figure out whatās making you sick, youāre dead.
When you walked in the dialysis center and saw the table of candy, you should have gone to Whoever Is In Charge and said, āGet rid of it. Now.ā This is the occasion to use your Powers of Mom. You know what I mean: The Glare. The Crossed Arms. The Tone of Voice. The Speaking in Capitalized Letters. The Not Moving.
Then you say, āI have the TV station news desk on speed dial.ā
Definitely. Especially since the plastic Christmas decor companies discovered that people will go all out for it.
And I agree with @VOW, you really should make a scene. I think the folks who run the dialysis place are thoughtless and rude for the candy. Dracula is a tiny bit funny, but still rude.
I know everyone on dialysis isnāt a diabetic. As Iāve said before. But they are sick with something. Candy and treats are maybe not good for them. I donāt know.
I asked a person there why they did it. She said for visitors and others and for me not to be a Grinch, get in the spirit or some such crap. Hmmm?
Itās ok. Iām not a troublemaker (usually).
This will pass.
Speaking as someone who I think most people would judge to be an āold fartā, I feel that my mission on this earth, earned through yea these many years of trials and tribulations, is to invigorate the glorious autumn of my years by causing as much trouble as possible. You know that iconic image of an oldster at a stoplight battering on the hood of a car with his cane? I donāt have a cane, but that captures my spirit perfectly!
Youāre a Boomer, right? Well, when you were a kid, the generation before you was pretty much of the opinion that Halloween was a holiday for the Boomers. And they had pretty much all the money. These days, the Boomers have a much larger piece of the money pie. Add to that, the Boomers never abandoned the notion that Halloween was for the Boomers, and yes, itās a much bigger holiday than it was when we were kids.
Subsequent generations have also played a role in this.
I supposed Iām a late bloomer boomer.
And I was seriously sheltered. Especially around Halloween. Daddy always steered me to something else when my sibs were trick or treating.
Sometimes I got to go to track with him. I had a weird childhood.
Bah, humbug to the dialysis staff. If they really want to leave out bowls of treats, steer them to the Oriental Trading Company, where they can buy mountains of silly little goodies, guaranteed to break within five minutes. The stuff is garishly colored, and they feature big bags of party favor junk at cheap prices. These toys would get people laughing, and I bet laughter is a rare commodity at a dialysis center.
If they insist on putting candy out, itās gotta be sugar free.
